When you’re a member of the New York Giants, you’re a member of the organization for life. In fact, a common mantra often repeated in New Jersey is, “once a Giant, always a Giant.”
Needless to say, when it came time for Giants head coach Pat Shurmur to pull the plug on the Eli Manning era, he wanted to cover all of his bases.
That included placing a call to former head coach Tom Coughlin.
“Pat Shurmur actually said to me, ‘He’s your guy and I wanted you to know that I had a very difficult thing today,'” Coughlin said on Friday night at the 15th annual Jay Fund Gala. “And I told Pat, ‘Yeah, he is my guy, and guess what? He’ll always be my guy.'”
Shurmur, who was honored at Friday’s event, explained why he felt it necessary to inform Coughlin of the move.
“He was his coach and it was a move that we made,” said Shurmur, via the New York Post. “I felt it was the right thing to do to call. Tom and I have a great relationship. We’ve become friends in the profession. It was just one of those things. Eli and Tom are forever connected. They won two Super Bowls together. When you make a move like that, it was out of respect.”
Coughlin and Manning’s bond remains as strong today as it ever was — Plaxico Burress called it “unbreakable” — and Coughlin promptly reached out to Manning following word of his benching.
“What I say to him is, I knew that when this happened, he knows he has my 100 percent support, that he would handle this with class and dignity and he will help the young guy just like Kurt Warner helped him,” Coughlin said. “That’s the way Eli is.”
Not only has Manning handled this entire situation with class and dignity, it’s apparent that Shurmur has as well. And if nothing else, this proves the lasting imprint that Coughlin’s legacy will forever have on the Giants organization.
Well done all around.
